Hasidic doctor who espoused Trump-endorsed COVID conspiracies has died of cancer, student used swastikas on tic-tac-toe board, meet Manischewitz’s modern marketing maven, and much more. Our offices will be closed in observance of Independence Day, so the next edition of this newsletter will arrive Tuesday morning. Have a safe and enjoyable long weekend! |
People give thanks outside the Supreme Court following its school prayer decision. (Getty) |
‘The Jewish kid who hates Jesus’: Readers share stories of religion in public schools After the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 this week that a football coach at a public high school can lead prayers on the field, we asked our readers for their experiences confronting Christianity in and around the classroom. More than 100 responses flooded in. Pageants and proselytizing: There were stories of Christmas pageants and morning prayers where Jewish students recalled silently mouthing the word “Jesus.” One remembered the time a Christian weightlifting group spoke at an assembly and tried to convert him. A mom from New Jersey was shocked to see Santa delivering presents to the children. “We were told by the principal that Christmas was everyone’s holiday,” she said. Discrimination: We also heard from people who experienced antisemitic teasing and harassment such as stories of not being allowed excused absences on Jewish holidays. One parent told of getting the ADL involved when her son was told his yarmulke violated the dress code. Pizza and prayers: Jenna Goldman of Jacksonville, Florida, recalled prayers before track meets, prayers before lunch at art camp, and prayers before graduation as well as church-sponsored pizza parties on school premises. She said she didn’t complain because she didn’t want to be “known as the Jewish kid who hates Jesus.” Read the story ➤ Plus: three opinion essays about the school prayer decision… And we’ve got more fallout from the Supreme Court… After Roe, how are Jewish groups in states with abortion bans responding?A rabbi in Missouri, one of nine states now prohibiting abortion, has already used his discretionary fund to help a local woman travel to Illinois to terminate her pregnancy. But a rabbi in Oklahoma said she could be prosecuted for saying in a newspaper article that she was helping someone get an abortion. Jewish abortion-rights activists are raising money, lobbying legislatures and working to elect sympathetic politicians in this year’s midterms. Read the story ➤
The justices issued a 6-3 ruling Thursday that limits the federal government's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, who runs the Jewish environmental group Dayeinu, called the decision “devastating.”
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Manischewitz isn’t just for your bubbe anymore: The iconic brand has become irreverent in its old age, making jokes on social media about kosher-for-Passover weed brownies. Now, for July 4, comes the company’s latest prank: gefilte dogs. “Twitter is just a really, really, big Jewish family holiday table,” the ad exec behind the campaign told our digital culture reporter, Mira Fox. “There’s always the uncle, there’s always the aunt or even the grandfather who is making the jokes in the corner, and there’s always the grandmother saying, ‘Saul! Don’t say that, the grandchildren are here!’” Read the story ➤ Meet the mind behind the hilarious mashups of Hasidic dance and hip-hop:You may have come across some viral videos that appear to show people dancing the hora to hardcore rap music at a Hasidic wedding. Their creator, Ori Mannheim, who is 23, said “99.9%” of the reaction has been positive. One social media page dedicated to Hasidic music offered him their videos to repurpose. Read the story ➤ But wait, there’s more… |
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Vladimir Zelenko promoted an untested COVID-19 cure endorsed by former President Donald Trump. (YouTube) |
🩺 Vladimir Zelenko, a Ukrainian-born Hasidic doctor behind an unsubstantiated coronavirus treatment who espoused anti-vaccine and conspiracy theories, has died of cancer at 48. Former President Donald Trump endorsed Zelenko’s hydroxychloroquine treatment at the start of the pandemic, but Zelenko came under scrutiny by federal authorities for pushing unproved drug cocktails and was pushed out of the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, where he worked. (JTA) Read our 2020 profile of Zelenko ➤ 🕍 The man who sold a gun to the hostage-taker at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, pleaded guilty on Thursday to a federal gun crime. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison. (U.S. Dept. of Justice) 📗 Lihi Lapid, the wife of Israel’s caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid, has inked a $100,000-plus deal with HarperCollins for the English rights to her third adult novel. The book, “Strangers,” tells the story of a teenage girl suffering from PTSD and was a bestseller in Israel. (Haaretz) 🤔 The principal of a school in Melbourne, Australia, told a judge this week that he didn’t punish a student who used swastikas on a tic-tac-toe board because there were no Jewish students around at the time of the incident. The evidence is part of a trial in which five former students are suing the school alleging years of antisemitic and racist discrimination and bullying. (Canberra Times) 📱 “The daughter of a Russian billionaire diamond merchant paid secular Israeli female social media stars tens of thousands of shekels each to promote Jewish ritual purity laws that relate to menstruation.” So begins a story that only gets more fascinating from there. (Times of Israel) 🤦♀️ Police in South Florida are investigating antisemitic flyers showing the faces of Disney executives branded with Stars of David. “Every single aspect of Disney’s child grooming is Jewish. Protect your children,” read the flyers, which were left on dozens of front lawns in Miami and Coral Gables. (Miami Herald) Mazel tov ➤ To Kevin Love, the NBA star, who married Jewish supermodel Kate Bock. And yes, the chuppah cleared the groom’s 6-foot-10 frame.
Long weekend reads ➤ Inside Tunisia’s 2,000-year-old Jewish community … A Yiddish-speaking doctor was the founder of the first clinic to perform gender-affirming surgeries … The success of a soccer team in Israel is putting a small Arab village on the map.
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In our weekly print edition: Meet a rabbi who made the religious case for abortion 30 years ago. (Spoiler: It didn’t go well.); the Jewish New Yorker who was once known as the city’s “most desperate single man” finally met his beshert; the scoop behind all those Jewish Messiah signs showing up around New York; and the only two Alabama doctors providing gender-affirming care to trans youth are a Muslim and a Jew working together. Get your copy now ➤ |
'The Union of Lublin,' an 1869 painting by Jan Matejko. (Wikimedia) |
On this day in history: The Union of Lublin was signed on July 1, 1569, creating the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, then one of the largest countries in Europe. With the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, Poland had become the haven for persecuted Jews. But as the Commonwealth weakened during the 17th century, its tolerance of Jews began to fade. Thousands were killed by the Cossacks as religious strife exploded. By 1795, the Commonwealth had fallen off the map, overtaken by the harsher Russian Empire, where Jews lost much autonomy and economic prosperity. Last year on this day, we reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Israel offered a good model for his designs on Ukraine.
Join the conversation: A new documentary about Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” opens today, and it highlights the Jewish roots that shaped the song’s creation – including an interview with Cohen’s rabbi. Our PJ Grisar, whose deep dive into “Hallelujah” won an award this week, will speak with the directors about their film and the song on July 7 at 3 p.m. ET. Register now for the free virtual event ➤
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Israel is set to hold its fifth election in less than four years on Nov. 1. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, our friends at the Israel Democracy Institute took a look at how this compares to other places, and it turns out it is a lot. Since 1996, Israel has held an election, on average, every 2.4 years — more frequently than any other country in the world. ––– Plus: Play today's Vertl puzzle, the Yiddish Wordle Thanks to Samuel Breslow, Rudy Malcom and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected]. |
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